Min Hee-jin & HYBE Conflict: Main Issue Completely Ignored In Chaotic Public Opinion War
As time goes by, the original intentions of the conflict between Min Hee-jin and HYBE seem to have been ignored
The decisive moment in the conflict between CEO Min Hee-jin and HYBE began in April was the shareholders’ meeting held at the request of HYBE as they accused the female CEO of attempting to take over the management rights of ADOR. At that time, HYBE’s goal was to dismiss Min Hee-jin from her CEO position. However, the court accepted Min Hee-jin’s injunction to restrict HYBE’s voting rights, which allowed her to stay as ADOR’s CEO.
At her second press conference, Min Hee-jin confidently suggested a reconciliation with HYBE. As expected, HYBE showed an attitude seemingly to reject the idea. As such, it is clear that it is now impossible to restore the relationship between HYBE and Min Hee-jin.
Later, the conflict temporarily subsided due to NewJeans’s comeback but emerged again after that. HYBE, together with its labels Belief Lab, which is managing ILLIT, and Source Music, the agency of LE SSERAFIM, filed a series of lawsuits against Min Hee-jin.
CEO Min Hee-jin also counterattacked by suing 5 executives of HYBE. She accused HYBE of illegally obtaining and leaking private message conversations and personal information, editing them to suit their purposes, and using them to stimulate negative public opinion. In response, HYBE stated that they would take legal action against false accusations.
Not only the legal issues, but the battle to gain the trust of the public also began. Min Hee-jin claimed that HYBE broke their promise and delayed NewJeans’s debut, while HYBE countered that the female CEO intentionally delayed the debut plan. At this point, NewJeans parents appeared. They exposed Source Music’s negligence of the members before they moved to ADOR and expressed the desire to be with ADOR and CEO Min Hee-jin.
Next, the controversy over Min Hee-jin covering up a sexual harassment case within the company broke out. Although it was reported by the media, Min Hee-jin strongly believed that HYBE was the source of information. To clarify the issue, the female CEO made a long post on her Instagram Story, explaining the truth and correcting distorted details.
In addition, Bunnies (NewJeans fans) announced that they would send funeral wreaths to the main entrance of HYBE building from the 31st of July to the 2nd of August to protest against the agency. Min Hee-jin supporters also plan to hold a demonstration to protect NewJeans and ADOR.
In the second round of Min Hee-jin and HYBE’s conflict, various figures, including NewJeans parents and fandom, who are defending Min Hee-jin, as well as HYBE labels Belift Lab and Source Music have raised their voices. This eventually causes the situation to become more chaotic and it seems like the initial issues have been put aside. It is questionable how this battle will end.
